The White Parchment
by Midnightscreamer
Summary: Somehow Yugi ends up in Atem's world after dreaming of a piece of paper that tells him of something terrible. When Yugi finds out that this same parchment predicts future events, things get even worse. Bakura appears, thirsty for revenge. And Atem's worried Bakura knows exactly how to get it. Sequel to 'The Black Notebook.' A/U
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Welcome to the sequel of 'The Black Notebook'! I really hope this story lives up to the first one. A HUGE thank you to Mahersal for editting this and all the other chapters!**

**I have the first couple of chapters written out, so I can update quickly ( this meaning every 2 weeks or so.) I actually PLANNED this story out, so the plot has alot more structure compare to TBN, since that story's plot pretty much followed whatever came to mind when I was typing up the chapters xD.**

**I tried my best to describe things in more detail since I seemed to be lacking that in TBN, and I think I've improved...or at least I hope I have 0.o**

**And without further adieu, I present you with, 'The White Parchment.'**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Yugi opened his eyes.

He was lying in a dark forest surrounded with green pine trees. He placed his hands on the ground, but quickly returned them to his lap because his palms felt like they had just touched a hot oven.

"Shouldn't the ground be cold?" Yugi pondered, inspecting the shadow covered grass.

Instead of burning his hands again, he shifted his weight to his knees; since the ground was not as scorching on the covered areas on his body. Yugi straightened up and peered around.

Something was definitely off about this place.

An eerie fog had began to nip at Yugi's ankles, making him shiver. He looked down at his torso and felt his cheeks burn into a blush. He was still wearing his pyjamas! Yugi took a step forward then realized why he felt a discomfort about this place.

Everything was silent.

No birds sang. Crickets didn't chirp. Owls made not a sound. The trees, tall and intimidating, stood still, and branches did not sway in the wind.

Snap!

Yugi jumped at the sudden noise. It sounded almost like a twig, but it was too artificial, like he was watching a YouTube video with poor sound quality. By his natural instinct, Yugi turned his head toward what had made the sound.

"Hull-o?" Yugi asked, questioning if the words he formed with his lips actually came out of his mouth.

A very dim outline of a person was visible. Yugi cocked his head and attempted to make out the figure. The shadowed person came closer and closer to him, and then came to a halt 20 meters away.

Yugi squinted, but still had no luck at catching a glimpse of the face. The shadows were too thick.

Snap!

Another twig had been crushed under somebody's careless foot. Yugi didn't hesitate this time when he turned his head toward the sound.

"Who's there?" Yugi called, hoping that it might be the Prince Atem whom he hadn't seen for almost three months. The person didn't reply, though Yugi thought he saw a glimmer of light reflect from a set of white teeth. Was the person _smiling?_

The forest erupted with what seemed like maniacal laughter. Yugi felt shivers go up his spine. That was definitely Bakura's cackle; he'd recognize it from anywhere. He could never forget the laugh that echoed off the walls of Atem's pyramid-shaped Puzzle, the laugh that penetrated his ears with a coldness so dark the devil himself would run in fear. Yugi tipped his head towards the sky, asking himself where the laughter was coming from.

The moon, at its fullest state, was the only light in the dark forest. The thought of extinguishing it scared the crap out of him. The laugher came to an abrupt halt as a little speck in the brightly lit sky came into sight. Yugi squinted at the moving object that appeared to be getting closer every second. His guard was up a hundred percent since that laughter. But as the speck became closer, Yugi's guard slowly dropped.

It looked like a piece of paper. A harmless piece of paper!

When the object was no more than a meter away, Yugi was sure of it. He held out his hands and the piece of—what he now realized to be— parchment, twirled into his palm as graceful as a leaf floating down from a tree.

This parchment was about the size of his palm, it had defiantly ripped from a bigger piece. He could see red ink that bled through from the other side.

Yugi perused his lips and gingerly flipped the paper over. He read out the words on the page, and boy did those few words that make his heart stop.

Blood will spill.

Did that mean his blood would spill? Why would somebody write that? What was the meaning of this?

Yugi suddenly felt like he was being watched; he turned his head. Nothing appeared to be there. Yugi turned his head back to the paper and tried to piece together what the short sentence meant.

But, within the same heartbeat, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Yugi looked up to see a young woman with spiky brown hair and big bear eyes smiling at him. She waved at him, seeming happy and carefree.

"Who are you?" Yugi asked, hesitantly waving back. Where had the girl had come from? The woman didn't answer; she only smiled and kept waving. She took two steps back from Yugi and looked up at the moon, admiring the sheer beauty it held.

Suddenly, a shadow grabbed the female and she let out an ear-splitting scream. Yugi gasped and quickly reached out an arm to her. The shadow and lady disappeared, leaving Yugi alone in the dark forest.

Only a heartbeat passed before a arrow whizzed past his head.

* * *

Yugi sat up, his face was sweat covered and his heart felt like a quick rabbit; fast and hopping. He took a quick glance around and concluded that he wasn't in a dark forest, but instead in his room. Safe and sound. Slowly, he got out of bed and steadily began to pull on some clothes that were lying on the floor. His eyes caught a black notebook, which sat silently on his desk.

For some reason, Yugi had memories of a 'Shadow Game' and a 3-D Blue-Eyes White Dragon that told riddles and called him a stupid moron. He had kept these memories to himself; his grandpa, who claimed he fell that day and got a concussion, would send him off to a mental clinic faster than a Duel Monsters game could start.

Yugi couldn't help but to wonder if _his_ memory was what actually happened. It had just seemed so real.

How he remembered it was while playing at the park he found a black notebook, which contained a magical power; whatever he wrote in it was able to transfer to another notebook, a white one, that belonged to a gentleman known Prince Atem. Then, when the Prince had asked for his help, he and his friend Ryou were able to locate where Atem was trapped. From there, a villain named Bakura, (who to this day, 3 months later, still made Yugi shudder) came into the picture. He had stolen Atem's Puzzle, which was shaped like an upside- down pyramid and bared a golden eye on one of its faces, along with the white notebook. A Shadow Game was issued that involved an intense game of hide and seek through the endless maze of stairwells and doors, just to see if he and Ryou could locate his black notebook.

But in the end he and Ryou succeeded and found the black notebook. And that's where Yugi's memory stopped. The next thing he knew, he had woken in his bed, next to his Grandpa telling him he had quite a fall. And to top it off, his Grandpa had come home early and given him a black notebook that looked identical to the one he had been "dreaming" about.

Of course, he had a natural curiosity to see if the notebook really had magic, and had written Atem's name across the page many times, hoping the special power of the notebook would kick in, but alas, Yugi received no reply. He thought either:

A) Atem was ignoring him

B) For some reason he couldn't respond

C) He did reply, but his notebook was being stupid

Yugi 0sighed then jumped at the sound of his grandpa's voice, "Yugi? Are you awake? You must hurry or you'll be late for the last day of school!"

"Sorry!" Yugi called back, grabbing his textbooks along with the black notebook. "I'll be right there!"

He ran down the stairs and kissed his grandpa goodbye, then sprinted down the busy downtown streets which didn't work so well since he kept on bumping into people.

When Yugi finally got to school, he managed to get to homeroom just as the bell rang. He sank down into his seat and tried to catch his breath. The first two periods blurred by him, and he couldn't believe it was already lunch when he snapped out of his daze.

In the cafeteria, Yugi searched for his friends, which wasn't an overly challenging task since they were usually the loudest table because Joey and Tristan got into a fight at least three times per day.

"Hey," Yugi said, walking over and sitting down. Ryou, who was sitting across from him, gave a nod of acknowledgement. Tea, who sitting beside Ryou, waved. It reminded him of the girl in his dream. Joey and Tristan didn't seem to notice his arrival. Today, they seemed to be arguing about who got the last chip.

"I can't believe it's almost summer!" Tea said, smiling. She stirred her soup and took a small sip from her spoon.

"Hey Yuge, tell this bozo it's my chip!" Joey said, looking at Yugi for the first time today. He stuck a long finger out and pointed to his plate.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Don't say anything, Yugi! We'll arm wrestle for it, then it'll be fair and square!"

"Hey," Ryou said between large mouthfuls of sandwich, eating in a similar manner as Joey and Tristan would. Yugi had noticed that Ryou ate differently ever since he had the memories of going into that Shadow Game with him. Every time Yugi attempted to talk about what happened with Atem and Bakura, Ryou somehow avoided the conversation or something (like the bell or a sudden phone call) would interrupt them. So after about the tenth time of trying to talk about it, he let it drop. It seemed like fate didn't want him to have that conversation. Besides, he figured, it'd be better this way, especially if his memories were fake.

Now that Yugi had thought about it, he noticed Ryou acted strange in more areas than just eating. Apparently he had gotten in a fight a week ago with a kid in gym then he got suspended for a day for pulling a prank on a teacher.

The only thing that was even stranger than that was nobody but he seemed to notice Ryou's change in behaviour. They all dismissed his attitude like it was something Ryou's did on a daily basis.

Then the bell rang, tearing Yugi away from his thoughts. Quickly he got up and waved goodbye to his friends. He nearly dropped his tray when Ryou's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Whoa! It's just me!" Ryou laughed, "Chill out. I thought we could walk to gym together. All we're doing today is cleaning out our lockers."

Yugi nodded, slightly embarrassed. Without another word he threw this trash in the bin and walked with Ryou to the changing room.

When they entered, the locker room was deserted.

"Where is everyone?" Yugi asked, going up and down the rows of lockers. "Are we early?"

Ryou shrugged and opened his own P.E. locker. "I guess so."

Yugi dismissed the unusually quiet change room and opened his too. He pulled out his t-shirt and shorts and folded them nicely. Still, nobody entered the locker room. He looked over at Ryou, his eyes mad and psychotic.

"R-Ryou?" Yugi gasped, dropping his eyes. "Are y-you o-okay?"

"I'm brilliant," Ryou said, as Yugi looked up, the crazed look gone from his eyes. "Excuse me; I need to use the lavatory."

He passed Yugi, but as he did, Ryou's legs buckled from underneath him, but Yugi—despite his height—managed to catch his friend.

"Ryou?" Yugi grunted, trying his best to hold both he and Ryou up.

"Ugh." Ryou groaned, straightening up. "Sorry, I blacked out there. Thanks for catching me."

He leaned on Yugi and finally got up to his feet. With a final nod that he was alright, Ryou left for the bathroom. Yugi stared after his friend, hoping he wouldn't black out on the toilet. He reassured himself Ryou was fine, making a promise with himself that if Ryou wasn't back in five minutes, he would go and check on him.

Yugi picked up his clothes off the ground, and stuffed them in his backpack. He peered up from his task as Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' played throughout the boys change room. It sounded like a cell phone ring tone. Yugi listened closely and realized it was coming from his locker, which was weird because there hadn't been anything in there when he took his last gym articles out. He raised his eyebrows and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Slowly, Yugi opened the door. Inside the locker was a tiny device that looked like something from a U.F.O. movie. On the top a series of loops swirled around an antenna. There was a flat screen on the front with nine buttons aligned like a tic-tack-toe board with various symbols that looked like a five year old learning the alphabet. Without thinking, Yugi pressed the top right button since it was flashing. This button bore the symbol of an upside down 'V' and a box beneath it. 'Ode to Joy' stopped playing, but the antenna began to glow neon green.

The next thing Yugi knew, something jumped on his back and hit him in the head. Very, _very _hard.

* * *

**And there you have it! The first chapter! Did you like it? Did you hate it? Review either way, I enjoy reading feedback :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello my lovies!**

**Sorry this took so long, but here it is :) **

**Please enjoy and don't forget to review!**

* * *

The first thing Yugi heard were footsteps dragging across the grass. He was lying face-down on nature's carpet and felt himself shudder at the mere thought of moving. His head was pounding so hard it felt like someone ran over it with a garbage truck. Yugi wiggled his fingers with great difficulty. Every muscle in his body was numb.

Unfortunately,_when _he got to move wasn't for him to decide. Two sets of arms ceased his biceps and hoisted him onto his feet. His legs felt like spaghetti, weak and stringy, which didn't help his balance. Thankfully, the people who clasped his arms had an iron grip.

Yugi turned his head and studied the pair, both whom were men. Each sported a golden metallic armor suit which looked at least two hundred years out of date. Each man was tall and had a killer face tan. The one on Yugi's right had brown hair and a stone hard look fixed upon his face. The other had pin-straight black hair with high cheek bones. Neither of them looked too friendly.

One of the men sighed while the other clicked his tongue. Then, without any warning, the knight on the left pushed down on the back of Yugi's head, forcing him to look at the ground.

"M'lord? We found 'im! We found 'im!" The man who pushed Yugi's head yelled.

At the very top of his vision, Yugi could see hooves and a set of scarlet boots. The person on the horse had a deep set voice which sounded quite familiar. But Yugi's head was spinning faster than a tornado and quickly gave up on placing it.

"Are you sure this is him?" The deep voiced man questioned.

"Yes! Of course! Who else could sneak onto the castle grounds?" A shallow gasp was heard. "Your highness, are you suggesting that... that our forces would let _**two **_thieves in?" The guy on the right said, sounding shocked.

"That is exactly what I'm suggesting, Seth."

"Well, even if he _isn't _the thief, he shouldn't be trespassing on the castle grounds." The guy named Seth snorted._"_We should kill him."

_Kill me? Please don't kill me. _Yugi thought desperately. His head felt like it was going to dislocate from his neck if it was pushed any harder. And he liked his head exactly where it was, thank you very much.

"Alas, Seth, you are too quick to give judgment." The deep voice mused. "And that isn't always a good thing. I shall let him explain his situation... before deciding his fate." The deep voice stated, and then said, "What business do you have inside the royal boundaries?"

It took Yugi a second to realize the man was talking to him. He tried to open his mouth, but like every other part of his body, it didn't seem to work anymore.

"Kalim? Ease up on his head, let me get a look at him." The deep voiced man commanded. It sounded like he was dismounting off his horse.

"Yes, M'lord." The one called Kalim answered respectfully, letting go of Yugi's head. His neck felt better instantly. He slowly tilted his head and looked up at the man with the ruby shoes.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Yugi...?" Atem said, staring at him with an identical expression plastered on his face; surprise.

"A-Atem?" Yugi coughed, forcing himself to speak.

Atem looked pretty much same as Yugi remembered him:analyzing eyes, forehead creased with wrinkles and a set of tri-coloured fiery locks (exactly like to his own hair). Though his last memory of Atem consisted of the King covered in blood and bruises from Bakura's hard punches. It was quite a relief to see no visable scars and blood on Atem.

"_King _Atem to you." Seth pronounced, holding Yugi's arm even tighter. "Why are you covered in mud?"

Mud?

Yugi looked down at his torso in bewilderment. But sure enough, his body was covered in a thick layer of brown mud. Why he was covered in mud, he had not a clue. But at least he figured out why it was so hard to move.

"I'm…not sure." Yugi answered slowly.

Atem flicked his hand, a motion similar to swatting a fly, and instantly the guards let go of Yugi's arms. Yugi's eyes automatically clenched shut, expecting his legs to give in, but amazingly he hadn't lost his balance.

He opened his eyes slowly. Atem was analyzing him, as if trying to remember every detail and speck of mud. Then, suddenly, Atem's eyes lingered down to Yugi's feet, breaking their intense eye contact. On the ground lay a set of muddy footprints that lead to a brick wall not far from where they were standing. Whoever those prints belonged to must've escaped by climbing over the wall, the only question was now, who? Atem's lips pressed together, but he remained silent, seeming to have come to the same conclusion.

Yugi only now began to realize where he was.

Like Alice, he felt like he was in Wonderland.

Or at least, that's where it _looked _like he was. Everything was bright, glowing and exotic. Green trees and bushes grew far beyond the height of any human. Lovely pink and yellow flowers _literality _danced in the wind, Yugi could've sworn the butter-coloured daisy was dancing the tango with a blush-pink rose. Some plants even had shooting stars and glass bubbles floating out of their buds. Pale white toadstools were actually used as stools, by some oddly dressed royals—or Yugi assumed they were royals; they were in the palace boundaries after all. But perhaps the most compelling feature was the sky. It looked like the ocean on a nice summer's day. Ripples from above,which looked very similar to waves, pushed the water-filled sky toward a giant ball of burning light that hung over a castle. Yugi studied the palace. It reminded him of somewhere. He decided it looked strangely similar to the Taj Mahal, minus the pools of water on either side.

"Kalim, take him the Agua Salle. He needs to be cleaned up." Atem said, causing Yugi's curious wandering eyes to land on him.

"But, my King! The Agua Salle is reserved for—" Seth urged, looking at Atem with pleading eyes.

"I know, Seth." Atem replied. His voice was strained. "But he is a... a _friend_ and therefore should be treated like gold. Kalim?"

Kalim hurried forward, bowed and then hooked his arm around Yugi's. And with and abrupt "Follow me," whisper from Kalim, they strode away from Atem and Seth.

The pair walked along the sandy path towards the castle. Kalim led Yugi through the front doors of the palace. He then took a series of right and left turns. Yugi didn't know how one could navigate through this place, he'd lost track after the tenth turn. So instead of memorizing the route they took, Yugi admired the decor of the palace. The walls were painted silver and had a gold stripe lining the middle. Pictures of men who resembled Atem hung above the golden line in black-velvet picture frames. Some wooden tables held lilacs and baby's breath flowers in glass vases. Others had nothing in them.

The pair moved passed an open door with a golden archway. Yugi craned his neck and only had time to see a girl with brown hair lying in a bed before Kalim pulled him away.

"Best not to distrub one in a stupor state." Kalim said, gently. Yugi could hear a tone of warning in his voice. "She is my Lord's pride and joy."

Yugi muttered a half-hearted apology, as they walked on.

Finally, Kalim stopped in front of a crystal door. He held out his palm to the shiny surface and muttered something Yugi couldn't make out. The barrier moved and revealed a flight of stairs. Yugi looked at the royal guard, a puzzled look on craved on his face. Kalim motioned for him to take a step down. So he did.

"My lord will talk with you after," Kalim said, giving Yugi a reassuring smile. He began to walk away and then turned to look over his shoulder. "Enjoy your bath."


	3. Chapter 3

**I love when I get new ideas. I had to rewrite this chapter 3 times because I kept getting new, more interesting ideas xD I finally decided to mash them all together and produce this :p**

**Hope you like it. Enjoy!**

* * *

Seeing as there was no other direction to go, Yugi made his way down the crystal stairs. They lead him to a human-sized hole in the wall with a forest green banner hanging above that read _'Agua Salle'. _Sighing, Yugi crouched down and began to crawl through the opening. He peered warily into the hole, but couldn't see any more than a meter ahead of him.

"Woooooaaaaahhhh—!" Yugi gasped, losing his grip on the smooth surface of the tube. He felt himself begin to slide down, farther and farther. He felt blind, the light from the entrance was long gone and it was replaced by nothing except darkness. Yugi felt himself spiraling down the tube faster than he would've liked especially since he slipped and fell on his stomach. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable position.

A deafening sound filled the tube, making Yugi yelp. It sounded like a bowling ball rolling down a lane towards the pins, although, it was very unlikely that that awaited him. Gradually, Yugi's acceleration decreased and when he finally came to a halt, he could literality see a light at the end of the tunnel. Without wasting anymore time, Yugi crawled eagerly towards the brightness, desperate to get out of the dark tunnel.

The plastic tube cut off where the light was shinning. It had led Yugi straight to a room no bigger than his own bedroom. It was a room completely filled with water. Only now did he realize the 'tube' he slid down must have been a waterslide. On the end opposite to him, peach coloured spouts and nozzles poured pink bubble bath into the rushing water. The walls were painted with animals similar to dolphins, though these mammals were bright purple instead of grey. The water, though hard to see through the pink bubbles, was a calming Caribbean green. Yugi had never seen anything so extraordinary in his life.

And without thinking, he dove in.

* * *

Having fun soaking in the giant bubbles, Yugi floated on his back with his eyes closed. He never wanted to leave. Almost.

Slowly opening his eyes, he expected more brilliant pictures of dolphins or sea creatures occupying the ceiling tiles, but instead he saw words. In bright red ink. In the exact same font as his dream. Yugi's eyes scanned it. It read;

_"Two mighty heroes rise above the rest,_

_saving one life, held by a pest._

_To which they must collect sadness water,_

_but also speak to the wicked ones' daughter._

_Take a strand of weed-like mane,_

_which is held in the salty air domain._

_Another item awaits where it can see all,_

_but take caution, one will fall._

_And finally, head south to the big creatures cave_

_Beware, thou! Only out come the brave._

_One last stanza will complete this rhythm-"_

Yugi's jaw dropped.

He no longer felt relaxed. He didn't eaxctly feel anything at the moment. Just a bit numb. Who was this referring to? Surely THAT wasn't the reason Atem wanted him to come in here...right?

He looked around the bath sized room and was relieved to see black block letters with an arrow pointing downward signalling the exit.

Taking quite a large gulp of air, Yugi dove into the utter depths of the bath. Another human-sized hole in the stone wall awaited him. He could feel his breath begin to protest at being held, so without protest or another thought, he swam through.

Breaking the surface of the water, Yugi saw he was in a cave. But it wasn't a dark cave that made him scared. Instead it was one that made him curious. Grey rocks peaked from the turquoise water and beautifully glistened from a light Yugi had no idea was coming from. The cave walls looked like they contained vast amounts of gold and other jewels. Yugi pursued his lips;even Bill Gates wasn't this rich. It was then Yugi saw tiny pixie like creatures that were chiseling at the walls with hardware tools, trying to get the rare gems. They were red with huge black eyes, no bigger than Yugi's index finger. Most of them had yellow hard hats on and power drills to fit their petite bodies. Each pixie had its own set of colourless wings, flapping even faster than that of a hummingbird.

Yugi tore his eyes away and looked to shore, realizing someone was waiting for him. To Yugi's delight, it wasn't Seth or Kalim, but King Atem himself.

"How was your bath?" Atem asked Yugi when he arrived at the rocky land mass. Yugi had just climbed up out of the water, amazed his wet clothes weren't dragging him down. Amazed his clothes weren't even wet...

"Great." Yugi gaped, staring down at his perfectly dry -mud free clothes. Atem seemed to enjoy Yugi's fascination, since he gave a small smile. Although it didn't reach his eyes.

"The water is enchanted." Atem explained, reading Yugi's expression. "Various light magic enchantments were put in the bubble bath to imitate the feeling of wetness when you're bathing."

"Ah," Yugi said, pretending he knew all about 'light magic spells'. Then, he suddenly blurted; "Where are we?"

"The Agua Salle cavern," Atem answered, looking slightly uneasy from his outburst. "Although you probably mean where we are in general, yes?"

Yugi nodded.

Atem's eyes narrowed and his mouth remained in a grim line as he spoke. "Where we are exactly is irrelevant. All you need to know is we're in a land full of magic and danger, quite different from what you're used to, I presume." He paused and studied Yugi's face, then raised an eyebrow. "What is troubling you?"

Yugi's eyes drifted towards the ground. Something _was_ bothering him. "I wanted to know why you never replied when I wrote to you in my notebook."

Atem's eyes flickered. "That's because I never recieved anything."

* * *

**Please review, my loves~**


	4. Chapter 4

**MY HARDEST CLASS IS FINALLY DONE!**

**Ali: How many people do you think actually care? That's right zero. They don't come here to read A/N's, I don't even know why they come here at all...**

**Shut up, Al. *rolls eyes* Anyways, all I wanted to say is that I will actually have an update for you NEXT WEEK. That's right! Not 3 months, but NEXT WEEK. **

**On another note, please bear with me, I did use Google translate for the languages. If anyone actually knows German/Spanish and sees that I have misspelt anything. I WOULD LOVE YOU TO TELL ME. **

**Ali: Midnight trolled so hard at the end of the chapter. You guys are going to hate her. **

**Shut it, ****Ali. Don't make spoilers. Enjoy!**

* * *

"You didn't?" Yugi asked, unsure whether he should feel relief knowing that Atem hadn't recieved anything or mad that his notebook had left him questioning if his memoires were real.

"No, but I have a hunch on why that might be." Atem replied.

The King lifted up his arms and traced the air gently with his finger tips, making a rectangular frame shape. The usually invisible atmospheric gases began to glow, but only lightly. Atem's hands reached into the light and disappeared for a split second. When his hands retreated, they were holding a backpack. Yugi's backpack. "My apologizes if I have invaded any personal boundaries while searching through this...ah..."

"'Backpack.'" Yugi mumbled, mildly remembering he had had his bag on his shoulders when something had hit him in the head in the locker room. "It's called a 'backpack.'"

"Backpack," Atem repeated handing the bag to Yugi. "Yes. That. Now, please retrive the notebook."

Yugi gripped the bag by it's strap and began to unzip the metallic zipper. He quickly shuffled through the inside of the backpack and pulled out his black notebook. Yugi dropped his bag and surrendered the book.

"This," Atem said, "is not real."

"What are you implying?" Yugi asked. "That it's fake?"

Atem gave Yugi a steady look, but said nothing since his face gave Yugi the whole explanation. Yes. It was fake. The King turned and began to walk towards the cave opening, Yugi willingly followed. The pair lightly strode out of the cave and into a beautiful garden.

Everything here was bright and overexposed, the plants and flowers looked fake. They were too pretty to be real. Yet the sweet aroma Yugi inhaled told him otherwise.

In the center of the lustrous garden was a white fountain, that gushed silver liquid from various spouts. The statue on the top looked like a half angel, half devil being. The detail put into the marble was incredible. If it wasn't for the fountain or the fact that the angel/devil thing was spitting water from it's mouth at an unusual rate, Yugi probably would've assumed the angel/devil thing was a costume worn by someone who avoided sunlight.

Yugi caught himself drawn to the eyes of the marble angel/devil creature. Instead of just being carved into the marble like most other statues, the eyes were actually fitted with what appeared to be coloured contact lenses.

Then as if sensing Yugi was staring, the creature shifted positions and winked at him.

"_Hello," _It's voice purred inside his head. The statue lifted it's arms and gave a little wave.

Barely conscious of it, Yugi had walked up to the fountain's lipped edge and had already began to climb over the ledge. But before his feet touched the water, Atem's hands coiled around his shoulder and pulled. Then within the same heartbeat, Atem had carried Yugi at least five meters away.

Had Yugi been more aware, he might've commented on Atem's amazing strength and speed, but instead he was trying to see the statue over his friend's shoulder.

"Do not, under **_any _**circumstances, touch that water." Atem hissed, still clutching Yugi's shoulders with an admirable amount of strength. The alarm in Atem's voice shook Yugi from his trance. "It will change it's voice to whatever you desire to hear at that particular moment, just so it can trick you into going in."

Yugi, still being dragged away, grunted. "What exactly is '_it_'?"

"Nobody knows. Anyone who has been foolish enough to go in the liquid..." Atem paused, letting go of Yugi. Atem closed his eyes but kept walking. His face looked...broken.

Yugi wanted to ask how Atem more questions, but he stopped himself. Obliviously, someone very close to Atem had suffered the wrath of the silver liquid.

They continued to walk until they came to a courtyard which was full of bustling people dressed in black clothes. Without even the slightest hesitation of nervousness, Atem had began to make his way through the crowd, his eyes now open and sharp. Yugi couldn't find a trance of the emotion he had just seen a minute ago.

Peering into the crowd; various people of all shapes, sizes and nationalities seemed to need Atem at this particular moment. Or at least that's what Yugi thought from the urgency in their voices. It was hard to keep track it all since most didn't speak to Atem in English.

"Che cosa dobbiamo servire per la cena di stasera, Mio signore?" A dark haired lady asked, adjusting her chef's hat anxiously.

"Pollo suona bello, Signorina." Atem replied happily. The woman nodded quickly and ran off.

"Die Wände in der Ostseite Flur wurden neu gestrichen." A man with long hair and a mustache offered, bowing.

"Haben sie? Mein tiefster Dank, Sir." Atem said, in a much deeper and harsher accent this time.

Even when a little girl (who spoke in sign language) came up to Atem, he didn't miss a beat and quickly signed her a reply. She gave Yugi a big, toothy grin and then ran off.

"What'd she say?" Yugi asked, completely puzzled why the little girl had smiled at him.

"She asked who you were." Atem said, back in regular English tongue. "You can't read sign language?"

"Nope." Yugi said, shaking his head. "I couldn't understand any of that."

"Not even the Spanish or Mandarin tongues?"

"Maybe the jist of what they were saying, but defiantly not the whole sentence." Yugi said, thinking of the one semester of Spanish he had taken in Junior High.

"But I thought Earth's most spoken languages, after English, were Spanish and Chinese dialect?"

"They are, I just can't speak them."

Atem gaped for a moment and then cleared his throat, regaining his composure. A single "Oh." escaped Atem's lips before he mumbled. "Yugi, did you hear that?"

They had come to the end of the courtyard when the yelling had started. Atem had spun around before Yugi could even comprehend what Atem had said. Yugi turned towards the noise. Everyone had gone ballistic, swearing loudly (or at least that's what Yugi assumed) in every language possible. The whole crowd, once organized and friendly had become rowdy and reckless. And at once, Yugi understood.

In the middle of the chaotic courtyard was a head of snow white hair.

* * *

**Duh, duhhh, duhhhhhhh!**

**Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Holy crap, guys. I literally finished typing all the chapters up to nine this week. I officially have no life. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

...And within the same second, Bakura disappeared.

And so did the noise. And the chaos.

Yugi's eyes quickly scanned the vast stone courtyard, full of people, desperately trying to find the thief. But it seemed as if what he had just seen was part of his imagination.

"Is there something troubling you?" Atem's calming voice came from beside him, making Yugi's heart sink a little bit more. Atem's voice wouldn't be that calm if he had seen Bakura. "You look sick. Maybe we should go to the nurses' rooms, yes?"

Yugi nodded, not trusting his voice. Yugi was unsure whether he should tell Atem about what he had just seen. He decided against it. If he was just seeing things, why add to Atem's list of worries? But if Bakura had actually been there... no. Atem would have seen him...

The pair walked through a door to a gathering space with a red carpet and a big staircase. In the middle of the staircase was a table with a silver platter and a glass case.

Two men stood by the case, one in front and one in the back. Both had on the same colour and style of suit Seth and Kalim did. As Atem and Yugi passed, both men gave Atem a curt nod.

"How's the parchment doing?" Atem said, sounding a bit grim. "They haven't found-?"

"No, Sire. If they had, you'd be the first to know." The man in the front replied, looking sad.

Yugi's eyes widened. Two guards and a glass case...the item inside must have been more valuable than a piece of parchment! What was the need to go to such desperate measures to guard some paper? Did they have a lack of it in this realm or something...?

"Very well." Atem said, turning his back to the guards and starting up the staircase. Yugi quickly strained his neck to see the 'sacred' piece of parchment, he had to know what was so special about it.

His eyes looked through the glass case. Inside, flattened on the silver platter, was indeed a smooth piece of white parchment. Nothing particularly special jumped out at Yugi until he saw that the edge of the paper was ripped off.

It took a second, but a subconscious memory became present in Yugi's mind. The edge that was missing looked strangely similar to the piece of paper he had dreamt about last night.

"Yugi?" Atem called, almost at the top. "Are you coming?"

Without answering, Yugi dashed up the stairs, not looking back.

* * *

The nurse was literally a witch.

But, at least she was a pretty one.

She had tiffany box blue eyes and a miss America smile. Her nurse scrubs weren't really scrubs at all, but instead consisted of a pink cloak that loosely hung from her small shoulders.

The three of them stood inside a small room that didn't look at all like a doctors office back in Domino, but that was to be expected. The only thing remotely similar was a back bed placed against the far wall.

Inside the room there were tables on both sides. The table on the right held a single red book with golden figures on the front in a language Yugi couldn't read. On the other side, the table was filled to the brim with various jars and containers holding quite odd looking things. He didn't even want to guess what some of them were.

"King Atem tells me you're not feeling well?" She asked her voice an octave higher than mini-mouse, sharing a glance with Atem who was leaning against the bed frame. Yugi couldn't do anything but nod.

What if he had dreamt of the missing piece of parchment? That was what they, whoever 'they' were, was looking for right?

Yugi had kept to himself mostly, besides the odd grunt or nod on the way up the stairs, down the hall and through another set of doors. He hadn't told Atem this detail either, afraid the King wouldn't believe him...or worse, think he was crazy.

The nurses' mouth moved into a tiny pout. Her eyes lingered on Yugi's hand. "Did you know, people usually make fists with their hands when they're stressed, angry or have a lot on their mind?" The nurse patted Yugi's back. "Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

Yugi's stomach began to unwind and for some reason he felt like blurting out his deepest, darkest secrets, even ones that didn't relate to Atem.

"I, uh...I-" Yugi stuttered. But before he could form any complete sentence, a scream erupted through the hallways.

The nurses' eyes widened and whispered, "Mana,"

Atem took in a sharp breath before fleeing from the room. The nurse dropped her hand from Yugi's back and grabbed a small vile from the table.

"Come, quickly please." She whispered, before fleeing the room as well.

Yugi's stomach began to twist with worries again and he no longer felt like sharing secrets. He didn't fancy the thought of running, but he had no other choice.

Exiting the room, he slipped into the hallway and caught up with the nurse. She took a series of turns and went into a familiar looking room. The same room Kalim had taken Yugi past when he had led him to the Agua Salle...

Unsure what to do next, he walked into the room, where before a girl had been lying. But now, there was an empty bed, with Atem bent down on his knees, sobbing. His back was facing Yugi.

"Atem..?" Yugi cautiously asked, wondering where the girl had gone.

Atem said nothing and continued to cry. He held up his hand, a note crumpled into his fist. Yugi gripped Atem's wrist and pried out the note from his hand.

Smoothing the paper out, Yugi scanned the slanted writing;

_I'VE GOT HER. _

_YOUR FRIEND KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I DON'T GET THOSE ITEMS. _

_DELIVER IN TWO DAYS TIME. BRING TO DARK FOREST BY SUNDOWN._

_I'LL BE WAITING._

The person who wrote this didn't need to sign his name. Bakura.

Yugi looked up and saw a photograph placed on the beside table. It was a picture of the girl grinning and hugging Atem. She had brown spikey hair and a kind eyes.

Yugi knew her.

He looked away from the picture, unable to stand the sadness inside he felt. Maybe if he had told Atem what he saw in the courtyard...? No. What would that have done? That conclusion didn't cease the depression feasting in his belly.

Atem looked up at him, his face broken and tear streaked. Yugi's heart crumbled. It looked just as bad, or worse, as before.

"What-what will happen to her?" Atem sniffed, a new batch of tears already building in his eyes, like he already knew. Yugi's mouth was dry and his head was spinning.

"Her blood will spill. And she'll die." Yugi said, his voice sounding hallow. He hadn't known how he knew that. Sure, he had seen it in a dream and it could have been referring to anyone, but those words felt like they were meant for the girl. The girl in the photograph. The girl who got taken.

Mana.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry I missed the update last week, I was in sunny California, but I'm back now. So...Enjoy!**

* * *

Yugi couldn't stand it anymore. He told Atem everything.

Starting from his disturbing dream and the events in the locker room. He explained about the weird writing on the Agua Salle's roof and seeing Bakura in the courtyard. Yugi was breathless by the time he was finally done.

Atem had remained quiet for the whole time Yugi was talking. It wasn't like he was expecting Atem to interrupt, but the whole time he had talked, it seemed as if Atem's aura became sadder and sadder. And that in turn made Yugi feel sadder and sadder.

Even after Yugi finished summing up the last 14 hours of his life, Atem hadn't even asked Yugi why he hadn't told him.

They were now having dinner in a small room roughly the size of his Grandpa's game shop. It was decorated like a stereotypical Japanese home. The walls were made from white paper and bamboo. The floor was soft and squishy and in the middle occupied a low stretched table made from bamboo as well. On the ceiling, a painting of a cherry blossom tree was present. It was quite lovely.

Around the whole room someone had placed and lit dozens upon dozens of vanilla scented candles, which Yugi wearily glanced at every five seconds.

Dinner -for lack of a better word- was very interesting. The chef, who looked like a black-haired Santa Claus, carried two zip-lock bags and a pot of hot water. He placed one of the bags in front of Atem and handed the king a silver oval shape, which looked like it had been cut from card board. He gave the same items to Yugi and then bowed while grinning happily, apparently quite proud of whatever he had concocted.

"Gracias." Atem said. Yugi didn't need the translation for 'Thank you.' The chef bowed again and then left the two alone to eat in silence.

Yugi lamely stared at the baggies, gently poking what the bag held. Inside looked like a unicorn had pooped out geometric shapes. There was no way that_ this_ could be dinner. Yugi wasn't even sure if it was _food_.

He willingly looked away from his bag and over to Atem, who had already opened up his bag of deformed unicorn crap and stuck his hand in. He pulled out a green triangle and paced it on the table. Atem then reached for the pot of boiling water and lifted it up to pour on top of the triangle. Expecting it to splash everywhere, Yugi flinched and covered his face, but when he felt no boiling water, he uncoiled.

The green triangle, with the added boiled water, defied every law of physics Yugi had learned at school. A floating ball of white energy, which looked very similar to a neutron, was spinning and being projected from the tiny green triangle.

Atem lamely picked up his silver oval and muttered, "Spoon." The oval obeyed the king, like everything else in Kingdom and began to transform into a metal spoon. When the transformation was complete, Atem began to scoop the energy from the ball. He tasted it and began to gag. Yugi jumped from the sudden burst of sound. From something so spectacular, he would have never thought it would be gross.

"Are you okay?" Yugi said, his eyes still on the neutron ball.

"Yes." Atem coughed, holding his throat. "Just need some sauce..."

Yugi watched as Atem searched through the shapes and pulled out a red circle. He chucked it into the 'food' and gently stirred it until the previously white ball turned a blush red.

Yugi glanced at his bag again, eyeing the green triangle, while his stomach groaned in agreement.

_"Why not?"_ Yugi thought and stuck his hand into the bag.

* * *

After dinner, the King seemed to be in a less depressed mood. So Yugi broke then ice.

"What did he mean by the items?" Yugi blurted before he could lose his confidence.

Atem raised an eyebrow, but showed no disrespect in his tone of voice. "I thought you would have figured that out...did you not see the prophecy?"

" What proph-? Oh. Yes."

Yugi had in fact seen the prophecy. A prophecy that could be seen by others if they visited the Agua Salle and looked up. Yugi tried to remember the rhythm, racking his brain for the correct words.

"'_Two mighty heroes rise above the rest, __saving one life, held by a pest.' _That's us right? I hate it when it's us!" Yugi groaned and to his amazement Atem chuckled.

_To which they must collect sadness water, __but also speak to the wicked ones' daughter._""

Yugi sighed. "What the heck is 'sadness water'? And why do we need to speak with 'the wicked ones' daughter'?"

Atem sighed, again shaking his head. "I don't know, but we're going to have to find out."


End file.
